He added: “I think and I hope I’m ready, I’ve put a lot of effort, a lot of time away in various training camps and now I just can’t wait to get going.

“The important stages for the GC are further ahead but it would be really important not to lose time before those stages. They’re hard enough as they are, so to start with a handicap is even worse.

“I won’t win it, no, there are loads at an extremely high level and it’s not like I was close to winning it in the past.

“I was top five in the Vuelta [Tour of Spain] last year and won a stage but the Vuelta is very different from the Giro... I like 40 degrees heat and the Giro is usually four or five degrees, that’s a 35 degree difference. And it’s an entirely different kind of race.

“I’m very secure when I go to the Vuelta but with the Giro I don’t have many points of reference so it’s all new. But I’d be disappointed if I was out of the top 10. Obviously I want to get as close to the top five as possible but there’s a lot of riders who’ll be there as well and it’s going to be tough.

“I’ll be competitive just don’t know where - in the top 10, top 12, top five, whatever, it’s hard to say.

It’s a long way to go, it’s a very particular race and I don’t want to get overexcited, I’m prepared to keep it steady.”

But he insisted the nine-man Giro squad he will lead for the gruelling, 3,345.5km event was not geared toward winning tomorrow’s opening team time trial.

He explained: “We don’t have the team here to challenge the top guys. We have a very decent team but it’s orientated for the mountains so our goal is to lose the minimum time. The average weight of our team is about 65kg so it’s a bit over-ambitious to think we could go for the pink jersey in the time trial.”

None of the three stages in Ireland particularly suit Roche or his team-mates with stage 2, a loop from Belfast to the Causeway Coast and back on Saturday, and stage 3, from Armagh to Dublin’s Merrion Square the following day, destined to end in a bunch sprint. But the Dubliner, by way of Antibes on the French Riviera, insisted he was happy the Giro’s Grande Partenza was visiting these shores.

He said:”I’m super excited to be here today and looking forward to getting started because it’s been a really long wait, thinking about it. I think everyone will make the most of it and it’s going to be a great event starting tomorrow with the team presentations, but it doesn’t make for a home advantage because there are not a lot of tricky situations on the way down to Dublin.”